{
 "id": "henry-van-dyke-jr/vera",
 "title": "Vera",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Henry van Dyke Jr.",
 "poet_slug": "henry-van-dyke-jr",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 28,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1920)",
  "note": "Taken from the 1920 collected edition. That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume gathers work published from 1897 onward, and which earlier book or magazine printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/henry-van-dyke-jr_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
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   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/buildersotherpoe00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/toilingoffelixan00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/musicotherpoems0000henr_c7v6",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsnowfirstcol00vanduoft",
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  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 480,
  "n_stanzas": 20,
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  "longest_line_chars": 57,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "A silent world⁠—yet full of vital joy",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Uttered in rhythmic movements manifold,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And sunbeams flashing on the face of things",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like sudden smilings of divine delight⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A world of many sorrows too, revealed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In fading flowers and withering leaves and dark",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tear-laden clouds, and tearless, clinging mists",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That hung above the earth too sad to weep⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A world of fluent change, and changeless flow,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And infinite suggestion of new thought,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Reflected in the crystal of the heart⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A world of many meanings but no words,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A silent world was Vera’s home. For her",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The inner doors of sound were closely sealed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The outer portals, delicate as shells",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Suffused with faintest rose of far-off morn,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like underglow of daybreak in the sea⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The ear-gates of the garden of her soul,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shaded by drooping tendrils of brown hair⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Waited in vain for messengers to pass,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thread the labyrinth with flying feet,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And swiftly knock upon the inmost door,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And enter in, and speak the mystic word.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But through those gates no message ever came.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Only with eyes did she behold and see⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With eyes as luminous and bright and brown",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As waters of a woodland river⁠—eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That questioned so they almost seemed to speak,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And answered so they almost seemed to hear⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Only with wondering eyes did she behold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The silent splendour of a living world.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "She saw the great wind ranging freely down",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Interminable archways of the wood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While tossing boughs and bending tree-tops hailed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His coming: but no sea-toned voice of pines,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No roaring of the oaks, no silvery song",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of poplars or of birches, followed him.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He passed; they waved their arms and clapped their hands;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There was no sound. The torrents from the hills",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Leaped down their rocky pathways, like wild steeds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Breaking the yoke and shaking manes of foam.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The lowland brooks coiled smoothly through the fields,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And softly spread themselves in glistening lakes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose ripples merrily danced among the reeds.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The standing waves that ever keep their place",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the swift rapids, curled upon themselves,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And seemed about to break and never broke;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all the wandering waves that fill the sea",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Came buffeting in along the stony shore,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or plunging in along the level sands,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or creeping in along the winding creeks",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And inlets. Yet from all the ceaseless flow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And turmoil of the restless element",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Came neither song of joy nor sob of grief;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For there were many waters, but no voice.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Silent the actors all on Nature’s stage",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Performed their parts before her watchful eyes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Coming and going, making war and love,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Working and playing, all without a sound.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The oxen drew their load with swaying necks;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The cows came sauntering home along the lane;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The nodding sheep were led from field to fold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In mute obedience. Down the woodland track",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The hounds with panting sides and lolling tongues",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Pursued their flying prey in noiseless haste.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The birds, the most alive of living things,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mated, and built their nests, and reared their young,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And swam the flood of air like tiny ships",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rising and falling over unseen waves,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And, gathering in great navies, bore away",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To North or South, without a note of song.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "All these were Vera’s playmates; and she loved",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To watch them, wondering oftentimes how well",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They knew their parts, and how the drama moved",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So swiftly, smoothly on from scene to scene",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Without confusion. But she sometimes dreamed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There must be something hidden in the play",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unknown to her, an utterance of life",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "More clear than action and more deep than looks.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And this she felt most deeply when she watched",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Her human comrades and the throngs of men,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who met and parted oft with moving lips",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That had a meaning more than she could see.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She saw a lover bend above a maid,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With moving lips; and though he touched her not",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A sudden rose of joy bloomed in her face.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She saw a hater stand before his foe",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And move his lips; whereat the other shrank",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As if he had been smitten on the mouth.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She saw the regiments of toiling men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Marshalled in ranks and led by moving lips.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And once she saw a sight more strange than all:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A crowd of people sitting charmed and still",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Around a little company of men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who touched their hands in measured, rhythmic time",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To curious instruments; a woman stood",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Among them, with bright eyes and heaving breast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And lifted up her face and moved her lips.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then Vera wondered at the idle play,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But when she looked around, she saw the glow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of deep delight on every face, as if",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some visitor from a celestial world",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had brought glad tidings. But to her alone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No angel entered, for the choir of sound",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was vacant in the temple of her soul,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And worship lacked her golden crown of song.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So when by vision baffled and perplexed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She saw that all the world could not be seen,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And knew she could not know the whole of life",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unless a hidden gate should be unsealed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She felt imprisoned. In her heart there grew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The bitter creeping plant of discontent,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The plant that only grows in prison soil,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose root is hunger and whose fruit is pain.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The springs of still delight and tranquil joy",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Were drained as dry as desert dust to feed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That never-flowering vine, whose tendrils clung",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With strangling touch around the bloom of life",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And made it wither. Vera could not rest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Within the limits of her silent world;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Along its dumb and desolate paths she roamed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A captive, looking sadly for escape.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Now in those distant days, and in that land",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Remote, there lived a Master wonderful,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who knew the secret of all life, and could,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With gentle touches and with potent words,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Open all gates that ever had been sealed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And loose all prisoners whom Fate had bound.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Obscure he dwelt, not in the wilderness,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But in a hut among the throngs of men,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Concealed by meekness and simplicity.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And ever as he walked the city streets,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or sat in quietude beside the sea,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or trod the hillsides and the harvest fields,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The multitude passed by and knew him not.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But there were some who knew, and turned to him",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For help; and unto all who asked, he gave.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thus Vera came, and found him in the field,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And knew him by the pity in his face.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She knelt to him and held him by one hand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And laid the other hand upon her lips",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In mute entreaty. Then she lifted up",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The coils of hair that hung about her neck,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And bared the beauty of the gates of sound⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Those virgin gates through which no voice had passed⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She made them bare before the Master’s sight,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And looked into the kindness of his face",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With eyes that spoke of all her prisoned pain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And told her great desire without a word.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The Master waited long in silent thought,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As one reluctant to bestow a gift,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not for the sake of holding back the thing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Entreated, but because he surely knew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of something better that he fain would give",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If only she would ask it. Then he stooped",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To Vera, smiling, touched her ears and spoke:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Open, fair gates, and you, reluctant doors,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Within the ivory labyrinth of the ear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Let fall the bar of silence and unfold!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Enter, you voices of all living things,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Enter the garden sealed⁠—but softly, slowly,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not with a noise confused and broken tumult⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Come in an order sweet as I command you,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And bring the double gift of speech and hearing.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Vera began to hear. At first the wind",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Breathed a low prelude of the birth of sound,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As if an organ far away were touched",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By unseen fingers; then the little stream",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That hurried down the hillside, swept the harp",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of music into merry, tinkling notes;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And then the lark that poised above her head",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On wings a-quiver, overflowed the air",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With showers of song; and one by one the tones",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of all things living, in an order sweet,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Without confusion and with deepening power,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Entered the garden sealed. And last of all",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Master’s voice, the human voice divine,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Passed through the gates and called her by her name,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And Vera heard.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "What rapture of new life",
    "indent": 7
   },
   {
    "text": "Must come to one for whom a silent world",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is suddenly made vocal, and whose heart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By the same magic is awaked at once,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Without the learner’s toil and long delay,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Out of a night of dumbly moving dreams,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into a day that overflows with music!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This joy was Vera’s; and to her it seemed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As if a new creative morn had risen",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon the earth, and after the full week",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When living things unfolded silently,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And after the long, quiet Sabbath day,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When all was still, another day had dawned,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And through the calm expectancy of heaven",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A secret voice had said, “Let all things speak.”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The world responded with an instant joy;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all the unseen avenues of sound",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Were thronged with varying forms of viewless life.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To every living thing a voice was given",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Distinct and personal. The forest trees",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Were not more varied in their shades of green",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Than in their tones of speech; and every bird",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That nested in their branches had a song",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unknown to other birds and all his own.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The waters spoke a hundred dialects",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of one great language; now with pattering fall",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of raindrops on the glistening leaves, and now",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With steady roar of rivers rushing down",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To meet the sea, and now with rhythmic throb",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And measured tumult of tempestuous waves,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And now with lingering lisp of creeping tides⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The manifold discourse of many waters.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But most of all the human voice was full",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of infinite variety, and ranged",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Along the scale of life’s experience",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With changing tones, and notes both sweet and sad,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All fitted to express some unseen thought,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some vital motion of the hidden heart.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So Vera listened with her new-born sense",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To all the messengers that passed the gates,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In measureless delight and utter trust,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Believing that they brought a true report",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From every living thing of its true life,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And hoping that at last they would make clear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The mystery and the meaning of the world.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But soon there came a trouble in her joy,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A note discordant that dissolved the chord",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And broke the bliss of hearing into pain.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not from the harsher sounds and voices wild",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of anger and of anguish, that reveal",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The secret strife in nature, and confess",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The touch of sorrow on the heart of life⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From these her trouble came not. For in these,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "However sad, she felt the note of truth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And truth, though sad, is always musical.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The raging of the tempest-ridden sea,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The crash of thunder, and the hollow moan",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of winds complaining round the mountain-crags,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The shrill and quavering cry of birds of prey,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The fiercer roar of conflict-loving beasts⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All these wild sounds are potent in their place",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Within life’s mighty symphony; the charm",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of truth attunes them, and the hearing ear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Finds pleasure in their rude sincerity.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Even the broken and tumultuous noise",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That rises from great cities, where the heart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of human toil is beating heavily",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With ceaseless murmurs of the labouring pulse,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is not a discord; for it speaks to life",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of life unfeigned, and full of hopes and fears,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And touched through all the trouble of its notes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With something real and therefore glorious.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "One voice alone of all that sound on earth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is hateful to the soul, and full of pain⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The voice of falsehood. So when Vera heard",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This mocking voice, and knew that it was false;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When first she learned that human lips can speak",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The thing that is not, and betray the ear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of simple trust with treachery of words;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The joy of hearing withered in her heart.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For now she felt that faithless messengers",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Could pass the open and unguarded gates",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of sound, and bring a message all untrue,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or half a truth that makes the deadliest lie,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or idle babble, neither false nor true,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But hollow to the heart, and meaningless.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She heard the flattering voices of deceit,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That mask the hidden purposes of men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With fair attire of favourable words,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And hide the evil in the guise of good:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The voices vain and decorous and smooth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That fill the world with empty-hearted talk;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The foolish voices, wandering and confused,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That never clearly speak the thing they would,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But ramble blindly round their true intent",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And tangle sense in hopeless coils of sound⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All these she heard, and with a deep mistrust",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Began to doubt the value of her gift.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It seemed as if the world, the living world,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sincere, and vast, and real, were still concealed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And she, within the prison of her soul,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Still waiting silently to hear the voice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of perfect knowledge and of perfect peace.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So with the burden of her discontent",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She turned to seek the Master once again,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And found him sitting in the market-place,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Half-hidden in the shadow of a porch,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Alone among the careless crowd. She spoke:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Thy gift was great, dear Master, and my heart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Has thanked thee many times because I hear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But I have learned that hearing is not all;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For underneath the speech of men, there flows",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Another current of their hidden thoughts;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Behind the mask of language I perceive",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The eyes of things unsaid. Touch me again,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O Master, with thy liberating hand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And free me from the bondage of deceit.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Open another gate, and let me hear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The secret thoughts and purposes of men;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For only thus my heart will be at rest,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And only thus, at last, I shall perceive",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The mystery and the meaning of the world.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The Master’s face was turned aside from her;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His eyes looked far away, as if he saw",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Something beyond her sight; and yet she knew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That he was listening; for her pleading voice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "No sooner ceased than he put forth his hand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To touch her brow, and very gently spoke:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Thou seekest for thyself a wondrous gift⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The opening of the second gate, a gift",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That many wise men have desired in vain:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But some have found it⁠—whether well or ill",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For their own peace, they have attained the power",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To hear unspoken thoughts of other men.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thou hast begged this gift? Thou shalt receive⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not knowing what thou seekest⁠—it is thine:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The second gate is open! Thou shalt hear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All that men think and feel within their hearts:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy prayer is granted, daughter, go thy way!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But if thou findest sorrow on this path,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Come back again⁠—there is a path to peace.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Beyond our power of vision, poets say,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There is another world of forms unseen,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet visible to purer eyes than ours.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And if the crystal of our sight were clear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We should behold the mountain-slopes of cloud,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The moving meadows of the untilled sea,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The groves of twilight and the dales of dawn,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And every wide and lonely field of air,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "More populous than cities, crowded close",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With living creatures of all shapes and hues.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But if that sight were ours, the things that now",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Engage our eyes would seem but dull and dim",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beside the wonders of our new-found world,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And we should be amazed and overwhelmed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Not knowing how to use the plenitude",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of vision. So in Vera’s soul, at first,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The opening of the second gate of sound",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Let in confusion like a whirling flood.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The murmur of a myriad-throated mob;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The trampling of an army through a place",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where echoes hide; the sudden, whistling flight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of an innumerable flock of birds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Along the highway of the midnight sky;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The many-whispered rustling of the reeds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beneath the passing feet of all the winds;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The long-drawn, inarticulate, wailing cry",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of million-pebbled beaches when the lash",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of stormy waves is drawn across their back⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All these were less bewildering than to hear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What now she heard at once: the tangled sound",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of all that moves within the minds of men.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For now there was no measured flow of words",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To mark the time; nor any interval",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of silence to repose the listening ear.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But through the dead of night, and through the calm",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of weary noon-tide, through the solemn hush",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That fills the temple in the pause of praise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And through the breathless awe in rooms of death,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She heard the ceaseless motion and the stir",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of never-silent hearts, that fill the world",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With interwoven thoughts of good and ill,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With mingled music of delight and grief,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With songs of love, and bitter cries of hate,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With hymns of faith, and dirges of despair,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And murmurs deeper and more vague than all⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thoughts that are born and die without a name,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or rather, never die, but haunt the soul,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With sad persistence, till a name is given.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These Vera heard, at first with mind perplexed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And half-benumbed by the disordered sound.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But soon a clearer sense began to pierce",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The cloudy turmoil with discerning power.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She learned to know the tones of human thought",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As plainly as she knew the tones of speech.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She could divide the evil from the good,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Interpreting the language of the mind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And tracing every feeling like a thread",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Within the mystic web the passions weave",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From heart to heart around the living world.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But when at last the Master’s second gift",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was perfected within her, and she heard",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And understood the secret thoughts of men,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A sadness fell upon her, and the load",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of insupportable knowledge pressed her down",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With weary wishes to know more, or less.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For all she knew was like a broken word",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Inscribed upon the fragment of a ring;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And all she heard was like a broken strain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Preluding music that is never played.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then she remembered in her sad unrest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Master’s parting word⁠—“a path to peace,”⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And turned again to seek him with her grief.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She found him in a hollow of the hills,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beside a little spring that issued forth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beneath the rocks and filled a mossy cup",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With never-failing water. There he sat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With waiting looks that welcomed her afar.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“I know that thou hast heard, my child,” he said,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“For all the wonder of the world of sound",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is written in thy face. But hast thou heard,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Among the many voices, one of peace?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And is thy heart that hears the secret thoughts,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The hidden wishes and desires of men,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Content with hearing? Art thou satisfied?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Nay, Master,” she replied, “thou knowest well",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That I am not at rest, nor have I heard",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The voice of perfect peace; but what I hear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Brings me disquiet and a troubled mind.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The evil voices in the souls of men,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Voices of rage and cruelty and fear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Have not dismayed me; for I have believed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The voices of the good, the kind, the true,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are more in number and excel in strength.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There is more love than hate, more hope than fear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the deep throbbing of the human heart.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But while I listen to the troubled sound,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "One thing torments me, and destroys my rest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And presses me with dull, unceasing pain.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For out of all the minds of all mankind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There rises evermore a questioning voice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That asks the meaning of this mighty world",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And finds no answer⁠—asks, and asks again,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With patient pleading or with wild complaint,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But wakens no response, except the sound",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of other questions, wandering to and fro,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From other souls in doubt. And so this voice",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Persists above all others that I hear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And binds them up together into one,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Until the mingled murmur of the world",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sounds through the inner temple of my heart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like an eternal question, vainly asked",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By every human soul that thinks and feels.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This is the heaviness that weighs me down,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And this the pain that will not let me rest.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Therefore, dear Master, shut the gates again,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And let me live in silence as before!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or else⁠—and if there is indeed a gate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unopened yet, through which I might receive",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An answer in the voice of perfect peace⁠—”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "She ceased; and in her upward faltering tone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The question echoed. Then the Master said:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“There is another gate, not yet unclosed.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For through the outer portal of the ear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Only the outer voice of things may pass;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And through the middle doorway of the mind",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Only the half-formed voice of human thoughts,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Uncertain and perplexed with endless doubt;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But through the inmost gate the spirit hears",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The voice of that great Spirit who is Life.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beneath the tones of living things He breathes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A deeper tone than ever ear hath heard;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And underneath the troubled thoughts of men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He thinks forever, and His thought is peace.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Behold, I touch thee once again, my child:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The third and last of those three hidden gates",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That closed around thy soul and shut thee in,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is open now, and thou shalt truly hear.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then Vera heard. The spiritual gate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was opened softly as a full-blown flower",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Unfolds its heart to welcome in the dawn,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And on her listening face there shone a light",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of still amazement and completed joy",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the full gift of hearing. What she heard",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I cannot tell; nor could she ever tell",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In words; because all human words are vain.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There is no speech nor language, to express",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The secret messages of God, that make",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Perpetual music in the hearing heart.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Below the voice of waters, and above",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The wandering voice of winds, and underneath",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The song of birds, and all the varying tones",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of living things that fill the world with sound,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "God spoke to her, and what she heard was peace.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So when the Master questioned, “Dost thou hear?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She answered, “Yea, at last I hear.” And then",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He asked her once again, “What hearest thou?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What means the voice of Life?” She answered, “Love!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For love is life, and they who do not love",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are not alive. But every soul that loves,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lives in the heart of God and hears Him speak.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}